diff --git a/cli/app/deploy.go b/cli/app/deploy.go
index 455083c3..0ff13bd2 100644
--- a/cli/app/deploy.go
+++ b/cli/app/deploy.go
@@ -108,10 +108,13 @@ checkout as-is. Recipe commit hashes are also supported as values for
 		}
 
 		if !internal.Chaos {
-			_, err = app.Recipe.EnsureVersion(toDeployVersion)
+			isChaos, err := app.Recipe.EnsureVersion(toDeployVersion)
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Fatal(i18n.G("ensure recipe: %s", err))
 			}
+			if isChaos {
+				log.Fatal(i18n.G("version '%s' appears to be a chaos commit, but --chaos/-C was not provided", toDeployVersion))
+			}
 		}
 
 		if err := lint.LintForErrors(app.Recipe); err != nil {